THE LONGING

Great game for realizing just how fast time flies. I could've sworn I bought it yesterday, but it turns out I abandoned the poor thing for over a year.

Dont play with intentions. Just do what you want for the time you have. Your time is limited, but it is still so open. You do not have to build anything or search for something you dont even know if it exists. I would recommend everyone playing this game only once and not to watch any content online. Stick with your life as you may only live it once :)

Installed THE LONGING thinking it was an idle game. It idled me. The game told me to wait **400 days**. I said "bet." Somewhere around day 73 I started checking on a tiny cave man more often than I checked on my own family. I logged in. He was still walking. I logged out. He was still walking. I came back a week later. He had moved approximately 17 feet. Absolute cinema. My dopamine receptors filed for bankruptcy. TikTok has ruined my attention span so badly that watching this little dude stroll through a cave felt like watching Subway Surfers without the Subway Surfers. Lowkey this game mogged me. No enemies. No battle pass. No ranked mode. No skibidi. Just vibes. The Shade has more aura than 99% of live-service protagonists. I opened the game just to say hi. He looked lonely. Now I'm emotionally invested in a fictional rock goblin who reads books for fun. Who is really imprisoned here? The Shade? Or me? 10/10. This game doesn't waste your time. It consumes it.

There's idle games, there's clicker idle games and then there's: The Longing. An idle game about waiting 400 days that let's you read books, explore a cave system in real time or just sit in a chair and wait for time to pass. It would be easy to dismiss this as not even a game. The only challenge is to your patience, the only interactions are to make the time pass slightly faster and the only end goal is to wait. But if you've read the store page then you know it was honest about what it intends to be. It's not hiding some big secret that makes it "the greatest game of all time" it's literally just a unique idle game experience that brings lonely waiting and quiet exploration into focus. If you're not prepared to watch a shadow creature walk the empty halls of a cavern for literally days at a time, this isn't for you. What you can take away from it however is a chance to relax in a calm exploration of nothing in particular. If that makes you ask: "Why should I bother?" Then you probably shouldn't. As a game it barely qualifies as one. As a meditative tool, you'll have to want that and adapt it as one. As an experience in just waiting, well, that's what it claimed to be and it accomplishes that along with some interactive exploration to pretend you're doing something, while really doing nothing. If you're looking for deeper meaning, the game won't give it to you. It may however give you the time to find it on your own while not provoking you with any serious challenges. In the abstract, aren't all games just a way to waste your time away from reality? Some provide challenge, some provide distraction. Whether it's with clever storytelling or intricate gameplay interactions it's you that needs to decide what you want from your entertainment choices. This is a very specific choice to simply idle your time in a lonely cavern waiting for 400 days. Explore, don't explore. Read, don't read, and so on. In the end it's a relaxing idle game with some exploration and optional reading. Whether you need that as a break instead of the next frantic combat game or brain bending puzzle experience is up to you. It will be here waiting until you decide. --- Bottom line: The experience of waiting expressed in game form. --- [url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/38232109/]While you are here, would you consider following my curator page?[/url] [url=https://steamcommunity.com/id/kunovega/recommended/]Want to read all of my reviews and not just the curated ones?[/url]

Remember when you waited hours for the bus, and eventually had to walk instead, because you couldnt wait? Remember when the summer vacation was over and you couldnt wait for the year to end, so you and your geek friends wanted to go bike riding? Well.. here the waiting game takes on a different approach. you can play it on 1FPS and still u wont miss anything, great for if you have endless zoom/teams meetings, you can play it or not play it, it basically plays itself... most recommended age 4-400.

Что сказать... *глубокий выдох* ...игра не для всех. Прежде отмечу, что атмосфера в пещере - моё почтение, каждый звук - прямо наслаждение для ушей. В итоге я побыла в игре час и уснула в кресле с геймпадом в руках (размазало от атмосферного звука и тягомотного «геймплея»). Глубокие смыслы а-ля "суть в принятии неизбежного ожидания" или "смысл в том, чтобы скрасить ожидание, а не просто ждать" каждому понятны, но это работает и имеет смысл лишь в реальной жизни, а не в игре. В этой игре ты просто ждёшь и смотришь, как персонаж потихонечку наполняет досугом свое время и постепенно создает уют в берлоге. А твой досуг, который ты тратишь на эту игру – уже и не досуг вовсе, а тянущее ожидание. С тем же успехом можно было сесть напротив часов и смотреть как двигаются стрелки. Ты ожидаешь, пока персонаж неторопливо плетётся из точки А в точку Б. Ожидаешь, пока откроется дверь. Ожидаешь, пока персонаж потопчется на месте, прежде чем войти в дверь. Ожидаешь, пока персонаж нарисует картинку. Ожидаешь, пока вырастет мох, чтобы персонаж получил кирку. Ожидаешь, пока осыплется песчаник, чтобы персонаж перешел на другую сторону обрыва, и так далее... Ожидаешь, пока персонаж ожидает, пока пройдет время, в конце концов. Да, можно купить игру, зайти, выйти и забыть про нее на 400 дней. Через 400 дней персонаж сможет пройти куда хочет, ограничиваясь лишь своей скоростью передвижения и выполнения действий. Ах, да, зачем куда-то идти? Можно сразу будить короля. Ну и смысл? Мне не понять зачем подменять понятие «ожидание» понятием «геймплей». Это как приклеить банан скотчем на стену и назвать искусством. Как кривозубая крестьянка, которая не поняла всей глубины сего «ИНТЕРАКТИВНОГО ОПЫТА, ЛОМАЮЩЕГО ПРЕДСТАВЛЕНИЕ О ТЕМПЕ ИГРЫ И БЛА-БЛА-БЛА», я не знаю что добавить. Возврат.

its fun but you need to be ready to put in alot of time the longer you play the more fun it gets.

I don't think another game, or piece of art in general will resonate with me like The Longing has. The game is truly incredible and this review would take 400 days to read if I tried to explain why.

its a game of patience-which ill admit tested me at times- but oh my goodness its so nice! the most relaxing game ive played in awhile. The lil shade guy is just so cute!